Sanjay Raut to visit Ayodhya prior to Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray's visit on March 7

Shiv Sena senior leader Sanjay Raut will visit Ayodhya on Thursday ahead of party supremo and Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray's visit on March 7. Raut will also meet the district magistrate and make the necessary arrangements. The Sena leader had earlier informed that on completion of 100 days of the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray would visit Ayodhya to pay homage to Lord Ram. 

Sounding the Ayodhya bugle, Shiv Sena MP Raut on February 22 had announced that Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray will visit Ayodhya on March 7. Detailing his itinerary, Raut said that Thackeray along with countless Shiv Sainiks will visit Ram Lalla in the afternoon and will perform aarti on the banks of the Sarayu in the afternoon. He has also invited everyone to be a part of this historic journey, which will include senior Shiv Sena ministers, the Thackeray family and senior leaders like Raut himself.

READ | After PM Modi, Uddhav Thackeray Meets LK Advani Along With Aaditya & Sanjay Raut

Sena on Ayodhya

Previously, on September 15, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray met all Sena MPs and MLAs at Matoshree and has reportedly told them to be prepared for building the Ram Mandir. Moreover, Thackeray, his son Aaditya Thackeray, along with 18 party MPs visited Ayodhya in June and offered prayers at the makeshift Ram Lalla temple. But after the Ayodhya verdict paved the way for the Ram Mandir, the Sena supremo had cancelled his Ayodhya visit which he had planned for November 24 attributing it to the delay in the government formation in Maharashtra.

READ | 'BJP Using Savarkar As Shield For Neo-nationalism Politics': Sena

Sena's Hindutva & Ram Mandir

After snapping ties with 30-year old ally BJP, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had said that the Sena has not betrayed Hindutva, in his first Assembly address as CM. He put forth that the Sena's Hindutva was intact, inspite of its 'secular' joint Common Minimum Programme with its allies Congress-NCP which has led to it often feuding with Congress over its hero- Savarkar. This visit also comes amidst the President of the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust Mahant Nritya Gopal Das announcing that construction of the temple will begin within six months and in the same place where the Babri Masjid was present.

READ | Shiv Sena Slams BJP On 'false' Concern For Savarkar, Questions Centre On Bharat Ratna

READ | 'Ask Yediyurappa': Congress Shows Mirror To Fadnavis' "wearing Bangles" Remark At Sena

(With ANI Inputs)